Welcome to the latest instalment of Managing IP’s ‘Five minutes with’ series, where we learn more about IP practitioners and professionals on a personal and professional level.
This time, we meet Pascal Faure, director general of France’s IP office, the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI).
Someone asks you at a party what you do for a living. What do you say?
I am committed to helping men and women unleash their creativity and drive innovation for the greater good! It is a great honour to serve as head of the French Industrial Property Office. Innovation is at the heart of everything we do, which is really exciting!
Talk us through a typical working day.
I wouldn't say there are really any ‘typical days’, but more like varied weeks with a range of challenges and people to deal with.
My role is very international: I sit on the governing bodies of the European offices, meet with my counterparts from around the world, and contribute to discussions on developments in IP law.
Apart from managing the office, my time on a French level is divided between listening to our users, whom I meet with regularly, maintaining institutional relations, overseeing structural and strategic projects, and supervising our internal teams.
What are you working on at the moment?
We are currently facing three strategic challenges:
Raising awareness among as many innovators as possible of the importance of IP;
Leveraging IP assets to secure funding;
Managing the impact of artificial intelligence: considering the changes this will bring to IP law, integrating it into our internal procedures, engaging staff, etc.
What is the most exciting aspect of your role, and what is the most stressful?
The most exciting is the variety of subject matter, and the exchange of ideas to drive progress.
The most stressful is having to anticipate users’ needs in order to better meet the expectations of economic stakeholders, innovators and creators who generate wealth and contribute to progress.
Tell us the key characteristics that make a successful IP office head.
Being able to juggle a wide range of issues: national and international, strategic and technical, internal and external.
Being a good listener.
Uniting and motivating your teams around clear, strategic objectives.
What is the most common misconception about IP?
That it’s expensive, complicated, only for big companies, and takes too much time.
These are all obstacles that we are committed to overcoming, particularly for SMEs and start-ups, thanks to our presence on the ground.
What or who inspires you?
I always remember this thought by the French philosopher Henri Bergson: “Act like a man of thought and think like a man of action”.
If you weren’t in IP, what would you be doing?
A musician, so that I could share the emotions that music stirs up with the world.
Any advice you would give your younger self?
Don't be influenced by ‘trends’, appearances or the here and now, but always strive for rationality and justice in your thoughts and actions.
What is your motto in life?
It’s better to give than to receive.
